"The
production really felt like a pivotal moment for UK Puppetry"
D. Max Pryor, British Council On Tour Magazine

Love him or hate him, this little guy certainly caused a fuss:

“In
the aisles and lobbies during the second intermission of the Metropolitan
Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Madama
Butterfly,” which opened the season on Monday night before
a star-studded audience, patrons could be overheard heatedly debating
the puppet used to portray Butterfly’s little boy.

This
nonspeaking minor character is typically played by a cute child
in a sailor suit. In this production the director Anthony Minghella
has introduced a small puppet boy manipulated by three puppeteers
cloaked in black who stand behind him. The child moves with eerily
human gestures, and his baldish head has a wizened, hopeful yet
anxious look.

Some people thought it was “more real than any real child
they could have had,” as one patron put it. Others thought
it was intriguing but very strange. Somewhere in the house,
Peter Gelb, the new general manager of the Met, must have been
beaming.New York Times, 29.9.06

We
were swept up in a tsunami of reviews and comments that always
surround Anthony Minghella's work. A strange new breakthrough
experience for us:
"Mr Minghellas finest touch is to turn the child of Butterfly
and Pinkerton into a Bunraku puppet, operated - as is traditional
– by three visible, but totally self effacing puppeteers
(the superb Blind Summit company), and far more expressive than
any child actor.”Paul Levy, The Wall Street Journal (Europe) 11 Nov 05

“The
physical detail, the restless, excitable, mother-clinging actions
and reactions are such that a child actor could never give us
and after a while you stop noticing the puppeteers and, like Butterfly,
you see only genuine emotion and need in the impassive doll-face.
This is extraordinary.”Edward Seckerson, The Independent, 7 Nov 05

"The
puppeteers looked rather pleased with themselves"
Adam Mars Jones

“
The stroke of genius in using a puppet for Butterfly's child
(expertly and vividly worked by a team of no fewer than three
puppeteers), add and add again to the sheer brilliance of the
conception.”A C Grayling, Time Literary Supplement

“I
ended up thinking let’s close all the stage schools and
let all children under 12 be played by puppets…”Adam Mars Jones, Front Row R4, 7 Nov 05

“the
3 year old child… played by a puppet, is so beautifully
done and is so moving and works exquisitely…”Peggy Reynolds, Night Waves, 7 Nov 05

“The
animation is so well achieved by veiled but perfectly visible
puppeteers that the puppets are easily the most authentic characters
on stage.” Financial Times, 7 Nov 05, Andrew Clarke

“When,
during the "dream ballet" interpolated into the opening
of Act 3, the puppet representing Butterfly clutches with desperation
at the departing Pinkerton, we heard an audible gasp go up around
us.” The Londonist 8 Nov 05

“this
production will be remembered for its puppets.”Tom Service, The Guardian, 7 Nov 05

"The
most extraordinary part of Minghella's daring concept is to use
Bunraku-style puppet as Butterfly's lovechild, Sorrow... As wooden
performances go, this one is masterly" The Daily Mail, 2 Dec 05

“The
puppet is cute as a button, and it’s ingeniously manipulated
by three onstage hooded figures”New York Classical and Dance

“Three
black-hooded men operated the life-size puppet and infused it
with so much realism I forgot at times it wasn't alive.”Seen and Heard International Opera Review – Harry Steiman

"The
puppetry was on a level of genius"The Nation, Thailand

"This
is the moment that British puppetry has been waiting for," Animations Online ed. 15